Tesco claims Black Friday sales increase

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Published:08:30Friday 05 December 2014

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Police were called to a supermarket in Batley in the early hours of last Friday after a rush of bargain-hunting customers made staff concerned for their safety.

The store, believed to be Tesco Extra in Bradford Road, experienced a rush of customers just before midnight on Thursday November 27 as the “Black Friday” sale began.

A police spokesman said: “Police were called to reports of a disturbance at around 11.50pm at a supermarket in Batley. Officers monitored the situation with no arrests made or offences reported.”

Videos have been circulating on social media of baying crowds arguing over cut-price televisions in the store, with rumours that staff eventually shut the store due to safety concerns.

One shopper described the scene as “chaos” when he was queuing for a Playstation 4.

He said: “I was out of there at 12.40am so I don’t know if it was shut, but the queue was all the way back to near the petrol station. I started queuing at 11.15pm so was near the front, and people were arguing about pushing in even then.

“As soon as the barriers opened for the deals people were pushing and shoving. Some women had kids as young as one or two – it was chaos.

“Me and a mate saw a woman hit someone in the face with a TV. The shoppers were a disgrace.

“Police came about 12.05am to try calm it down and about 10 people weren’t aloud in. It quietened down a bit, but I left before anyone else was allowed in.

“The staff dealt with it quite well but the shoppers embarrassed themselves.”

Management at Tesco Extra in Batley were contacted, but did not make a comment.

A spokeswoman for Tesco UK said: “The feedback from the vast majority of stores involved was very positive and we had 700 percent more customers visiting our site on Black Friday this year compared with last year. We are mindful that in a small number of the 600 stores participating police were called to help control crowds safely and we will work with the police to make any improvements for next year.”

Readers had plenty to say about the situation on our Facebook site.

Rachael Hardiman said: “What’s wrong with people?! This is everything that’s wrong with the world!”